NCECA Seattle is history now but wonderful history it is! The organizers did a fabulous job of presenting us with a vast number of shows and presentations ... just could not do it all in four days. The sheer number of pottery displays and shows was boggling ... Friday night I finally got to see some of the work in the convention center ... right under my nose. The Potters Council Members' show was excellent and showcased the talent that often goes unrecognized by the pottery mainstream. Every attendee saw it since it was smack dab in the middle of the vendors area ... a room no one wants to miss at NCECA.

Then, the icing on the cake was/were the Emerald City Comicon folks ... Friday noon they began to stream in ... superheroes, sirens, war lords, mad scientists, vixens, storm troopers, mutants and heroes ... all in costume and all headed up the escalators ... what a sight! The ticket for the day was $20 and I could not resist heading in to see what the deal was. The minute I crossed the threshold I was the weirdly dressed one! No one else in there looked like me with clean jeans and an ordinary sweater. Hundreds of cartoonists doodling while they worked their booths, t shirts of every variety, costumes and posters for sale ... the crowd was very knowledgeable and quickly spotted the famous. Safe to say that I stood out in the crowd ... especially when I spied a booth for "CLAY MANN" and headed over to see if this hero had super powers that included pottery ... nope. So, I bought the t-shirt and will happily wear it as it was (sorry folks) way cooler than the one for the other convention ... though I must admit I have no clue who all those creatures are that are attacking the Seattle Space Needle.

I have to say that this NCECA was the best I have ever attended. I have been going for about three decades and I think it was by far the most amazing collection of shows and people! Junior playing his banjo was the best music, as it always is! Beth and the Mudflaps was great too. I know it was basically in my back yard but looking at it with no bias it really was fantastic. Thanks again to the board and the host committee. Not sure about the shimmy shimmy thing but in retrospect it was great in its own silly way. I keep hearing from everyone that they too thought wow what a fantastic time! Sandy and Bob you closed it down with a bang THANKS!! Bill Strickland you make me think and cry every-time, Chuck Hindes and Jack Troy... Great words from Great Teachers... Gene Griffith you are the sweetest! Thanks again to Marjorie Levy and Wally Bivins! See you next year!

STEPHEN ROBISON
Head of Ceramics, Central Washington University
Ellensburg WA

:-) anyone have updated info on the milwaukee event? I won't even need a hotel for it! (it's only a 30-40 min drive)

~ Namaste ~

Home studio potter

Shanel Pottery

www.shanelpottery.com

www.facebook.com/shanelspottery

"To me the greatest thing is to live beauty in our daily life and to crowd every moment with things of beauty. It is then, and then only that the art of the people as a whole is endowed with it's richest significance. For it's products are those made by great a many craftsmen for the mass of the people, and the moment this art declines the life of the nation is removed far away from beauty. So long as beauty abides in only in a few articles created by a few geniuses, the kingdom of beauty is nowhere near realization." - Bernard Leach

:-) anyone have updated info on the milwaukee event? I won't even need a hotel for it! (it's only a 30-40 min drive)

You wont hear much about it until Houston is over with ... they'll probably announce the hotels with special rates this June/July ... the main one is usually the one nearest to or attached to the convention center. Many nearby hotels will be packed too. You will be able to do early registration in November-ish if I'm not mistaken.

If you want to be involved or even be a volunteer, the NCECA office might be able to give you contact information for the people working on it. I think you get in free in exchange for "x" hours of volunteer work.